HELP! Little guy has shallow, slow breathing :(

[skylavaulter]

Acquired two male 4 week old grey squirrels today. One is not doing so well. I am afraid he has pneumonia - his breathing is labored and slow. It's midnight - what can I do to help him right now? Can I use infant amoxicillin and how much per dose? Thanks! The other is doing remarkably better but he's sneezing - should I just give antibiotics to both of them?

[NaturesGift]

can you get their weights? as well as what the Mg/ml of the amox?? that would help someone to dose your squirrels.

also nebulizing them helps.

[skylavaulter]

Background - they were rescued after a bad storm on the 15th. Some kid decided that he wanted to keep them as pets, and was feeding them Hartz milk replacer and had them in a box with a towel. I picked them up today at 7, fed them diluted esbilac once, and have been doing pedialyte every hour since (the one that's not doing well is taking about 1.5 ccs at a time, the other is taking 2.5 ccs). I've got them in a box with a covered hot water bottle and a blanket. The one's breathing is very rapid, like you would find in an adult squirrel. But the other guy is much more lethargic and has slow, deep breathing :(

[skylavaulter]

I don't have a scale, nor do I have the amox on hand, but I do have a 24 hour pharmacy down the road and I was going to beg them for help. The babies are 4 weeks old, and look pretty average in size from pictures I've seen (I know, not much help :shakehead )

[NaturesGift]

do you have them on a heating pad set on low?

[skylavaulter]

I do have a nebulizer and albuterol. How long of a treatment should they get?

[skylavaulter]

It's one of those old fashioned rubber heating bottle that you fill up with hot water (not scalding) and the whole bottle gets warm. I wrapped it in a receiving blanket and it seems to be keeping them warm pretty well.

[NaturesGift]

I usually let mine nebulize for a couple minutes.

I would go ahead and try get the medicine. then we can work on dosing.

When you get meds also buy a scale you can get them at walmart Also get a non auto shut off heating pad.


are they clicking when they breath? its a tick tick with every breath. not mouth sucky smacking .

[skylavaulter]

The one that's not doing well is clicking with each breath, but I can only hear it if I place my ear on his chest. The other is clicking audibly every once and a while...I'd say once every few minutes maybe? I will try and get the meds...if they won't give it to me what should I get from the vet in the morning?

[skylavaulter]

I called the pharmacy and they "don't do that" :soapbox Ugh. Well, I just fed both of them pedialyte and they each took 2.5 ccs. The little guy's breathing is pacing - he'll have a few semi-normal breaths and then a few slow shallow ones following that. Hopefully he'll ride out the night and then I can call a vet in the morning. Thanks for the help - I'll keep you posted!

[Rhapsody]

Call your friends / family and see IF any of them have any CIPRO!! - this can be given to SQUIRREL!!
---I just saved a squirrels life with it that had pneumonia.

[Milo's Mom]

I am not far from you...I have Baytril, Fox Valley, syringes, a scale, a heating pad without the auto shut-off, and LOTS of fleece. I am willing to share and you may borrow the items I have that you need. Leave me know.
I sure hope the little ones can pull through...:Love_Icon

[Nancy in New York]

I am not far from you...I have Baytril, Fox Valley, syringes, a scale, a heating pad without the auto shut-off, and LOTS of fleece. I am willing to share and you may borrow the items I have that you need. Leave me know.
I sure hope the little ones can pull through...:Love_Icon
:Love_Icon :grouphug :Love_Icon Soooooooooo nice. Great teamwork!
Let's hope the little one pulls through....:Love_Icon

[island rehabber]

:thumbsup Milo's Mom :Love_Icon

[Milo's Mom]

I just sent skylavaulter a PM also...saying the same thing I said in my post...just to make sure skylavaulter sees it. Hopefully the babies are doing okay and made it through the night.

[skylavaulter]

Milos mom thank you!!!! I will pm you now. I'm so grateful to have found this site. You've all been amazing!

[Milo's Mom]

Just saw your post and got the PM...I'll be in touch momentarily!!

[Rhapsody]

Good News ----AWESOME!! :D :wahoo :wahoo :wahoo :D

[SquirrelsinSingapore]

Milos mom thank you!!!! I will pm you now. I'm so grateful to have found this site. You've all been amazing!

:bowdown skylav thank you for trying to help the little fellow and not leave it to die.
In the course you uncovered an awesome place with networks of like-minded people that will help.

I hope you enjoy your stay and get the troubled guy to recovery

Have a nice day/night

[Milo's Mom]

Just talked to skylavaulter and we are meeting up so she can get some meds, FV, 1cc syringes & some nipples.

[lila01]

Yay!!! Really hope he makes it! Keeping my fingers crossed!:bowdown

[Milo's Mom]

First dose of Baytril has been given. The little girls were all snuggly warm and took the Baytril without any problems. Skylavaulter has enough Baytril to dose both babies 2 times a day for 5 days with dosing instructions. She also now has FV, nipples, syringes, and some HHB's to get her through until she has a chance to order. In addition, I gave skylavaulter a detailed list of things to purchase, as well as, the website for Henry's.
Babies are still a little dehydrated, but are looking good overall...2 sweet little girls...I gave them both kisses from everyone at TSB!!:D I got to kiss babies!!!:multi :multi :multi
Skylavaulter is going to be a great squammy.:thumbsup
I advised Skylavaulter to start on the FV tonight at a 4:1 ratio and to do another few Pedialyte feedings in between the FV feedings if she felt they were still too dehydrated for her liking (she's a professional in the medical field), but no more Pedialyte after tonight, which will be 24 hours. I also advised her to go to 3:1 ratio on Sunday morning, then on Monday morning go to 2:1. I also explained how to look for the milk line and to go S-L-O-W-L-Y when feeding. If our experts think differently, please advise.

[Nancy in New York]

Oh Milo's Mom......you're the best. And you got to kiss babies...:alright.gif
Sounds like you told her everything to do, and I'm sure she has your number if she needs you. Excellent news. Thank you for always being there...:Love_Icon

[Milo's Mom]

Oh Milo's Mom......you're the best. And you got to kiss babies...:alright.gif
Sounds like you told her everything to do, and I'm sure she has your number if she needs you. Excellent news. Thank you for always being there...:Love_Icon


TY NIN!! :grouphug

I was recently blessed by someone paying it forward to me and now I am the fortunate one to be able to pay it forward to skylavaulter. She does have my number and I told her to use it any time of any day if she needs to.

Those sweet little girls...I got to KISS them!!!! Ahhhh, the sweet smell of baby squirrels. I guess I got my "fix" for today!! :rotfl

[UDoWhat]

MM you did a great job. :thumbsup Keep us updated on the little ones. :Love_Icon

Marty

[NaturesGift]

(((((MM)))))

awesomeness!!!

any updates?

[skylavaulter]

Hey there- sorry it took so long to respond to the thread...I've been a little busy today ;) The GIRLS (not boys lol...newbie mistake) are doing good and the little one that wasn't doing too hot has been a little more active tonight. The other's got some diarrhea...it started after the first feeding with the new formula, so I'm watching that carefully. :thinking Overall, though, they are holding on pretty well! Both were ferocious little things when I gave them formula after nothing but the pedialyte all day. Hungry little buggers! Their energy is definitely improving a little. Milo's Mom thinks they're just 4 weeks. One's 59 grams, the other is 62. Scrawny little things, but I'm hoping to fix that :thumbsup

THANKS SOOOO MUCH to Milo's Mom! :thankyou It was a pleasure meeting with you and I couldn't have asked for a better miracle for these little ones. With all your help, I think they're on the right track :jump

Now for names....:dono ... I'll get back to you all on that one hehe.

[Milo's Mom]

Glad to hear they liked the FV and were anxious to eat.:thumbsup Hopefully the diarrhea is just a once n done thing due to the change of the food. Please leave us know if it continues or if it is starting to get a little stiffer.

Doesn't FV smell so yummy?! I went back and looked at pics of The Fuzzy Five when I first got them to compare your girls to them and I do believe they are between 3.5 to 4 weeks old.

Have you been able to see the milk line? If you would like, I'll post a pic of a baby with a milk line so you can see what you should be looking for. Leave me know.

How is everyone doing this morning?

[Milo's Mom]

MM you did a great job. :thumbsup Keep us updated on the little ones. :Love_Icon

Marty



(((((MM)))))

awesomeness!!!

any updates?

Thank you Marty & Mandie!! I had some pretty GREAT teachers!!!!:D

[lila01]

:bowdown Y'all are amazing!!! I'm so glad to hear that this is turning out great!!!! Keep up the good work!!!

[skylavaulter]

I did see the milk line on both of them - they each sucked down 3 1/2 ccs last feeding, lip smacking the whole way (my heart melted a little!) so we're doing good! They hate that medicine though - they will squirm and balk and grunt like they're saying "no mom! I hate that stuff!" It's so cute :D I've gotten it into them every time though. The sharpie mark on the one is gone and now I'm having a hard time telling which one it was...which I guess is a great thing because before all I had to do was pick them up and the one was so lethargic it was very apparent. Now they're both squirming and feisty, so it looks like the antibiotic is working already :jump .

As far as the diarrhea, it continued a little through the night, but it's getting more formed. It does have a bit of smell, but nothing too bad. Right now they're curled up together with a rice buddy all cozy.

Oh - is it normal for them to get the hiccups? It looks adorable when they get them, but I wasn't sure if I should be concerned. Thanks!

[Milo's Mom]

Re-do the mark...maybe a little lower down on the leg...it might stay longer? maybe? I had to re-mark mine like every other day or so. You could also place a mark on one of their ears...I had trouble with the ears rubbing off too quickly but I do know that others usually mark on the ears. They do sell pet nail polish so you could get some of that and paint their nails different colors!! :D I would NOT use regular nail polish...I'd get the special pet nail polish. I also found that if a mark disappeard overnight on me, if I held the baby in natural light and slowly tilted/moved the baby I could get a small glimpse of the residual mark. Also, since we only marked them yesterday, you could also go by their weights to get them re-marked.

Glad to hear they think the FV is lip smacking good!!! :thumbsup

I'm not sure if there is a kid/baby on this earth that actually LIKES medicine. If you start having problems getting it into them we can think of alternative methods.

I am thinking that the bit of the smelliness is from the puppy formula they were on, the pedialyte they were on and their little systems going WTF??!! As long as it continues to firm up, I think we are good to go. Just keep an eye/nose on it.

Hiccups...hmmm, not sure about that one. Possibly eating too fast and then gasping for air? :thinking :dono In humans, the nerve that controls the diaphragm becomes irritated from a sudden in rush of air; when the air hits the larynx, a hiccup occurs. Not sure about squirrels. Hopefully one of our resident experts can weigh in on that one.

How are their weights? You are tracking and writing them down along with how many cc's are taken by each at each feeding, right? :poke :D

I will see if I can send you, via PM the spreadsheet that I used for The Fuzzy Five.

Thanks for the updates!!! Got pics yet?:rotfl :poke :poke :poke

[skylavaulter]

Working on getting pics - I have some on my phone but need to get them onto my computer. I still have to get a scale for them - going out today to look. They already look a little less scrawny. Still eating well and taking their meds :D Both are feisty and I noticed less sneezing - only once so far today as opposed to every few minutes just 2 days ago! :multi I'll keep you posted!

[skylavaulter]

PICTURES! :thumbsup I've named them Zoe & Tess. They're doing great and have lots of energy today - I found them both OUTSIDE their box crying :nono , so they have been upgraded to a 20 gallon aquarium. I'll get better pictures next feeding time; I didn't want to wake them up!

Tess on the left, Zoe on the right
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Tess, the one I didn't think was going to make it, sound asleep :)
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Zoe, the feisty one
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[Jackie in Tampa]

nice update, beautiful babies:Love_Icon

[Milo's Mom]

:wahoo :wahoo :wahoo :wahoo :wahoo :wahoo :wahoo :wahoo

There's them little beauties!!!

Great update!!! Great pics!!! Great job!!!:thumbsup

I like the names too!! I had a little Zoey...she was my "difficult" one.:rotfl

[lila01]

:Love_Icon They are soooooo cute!!! I asked about hiccups too cause lila was getting them and I was told they were normal! I will try to find the post in my thread and quote it here for you! They look so good! They will fatten up in no time on the FV! My lila loves it! This is such a great story! Also when my boys were babies and they got the hiccups the pediatrian (sp) always told me that's how I knew they were full! lol Hope they continue to improve and keep the pics coming! GREAT TEAM WORK!!!!:bowdown :wott :grouphug

[lila01]

From critter mom: Yes to hiccups.! lol

[skylavaulter]

Thanks Lila! That makes me feel so much better :thumbsup

Here's some pics of them around 10pm tonight. They were both wiggling around so I figured I'd take the opportunity to grab some shots of them :D

Zoe
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Zoe all curled up :Love_Icon
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Tess on the rug (putting her down was the only way I could make her stop squirming!)
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Tess getting warm with her rice buddy
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Sleepy sisters :Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon
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[Milo's Mom]

:Love_Icon :Love_Icon
So precious!!

[skylavaulter]

They're still doing great. They were bumped up to a 2:1 ratio FV yesterday. Zoe was 59g at midnight - she's now 61g. And little Miss Tess was 57g at midnight - she's now 63g! :multi :multi :multi They're eating between 3 & 4 cc's each feeding, so we're on the right track! :D

[Milo's Mom]

:wahoo :wahoo :wahoo
Great news. Thanks for the update. How many hours between each feeding? Keep an eye on their hydration...they should be just fine, but better safe than sorry.:D

Are their poops still good and are they peeing regularly?

[skylavaulter]

Eating every 4 hours. Poops are good but I'm noticing that they're pooping more in their cage than when I stimulate them. They're peeing well, too. Hydration seems fine...still keeping an eye on it.

[skylavaulter]

Changes - see my post (eating less?) in non-life threatening forum. I got the heating pad today, set it on low, and put it in their tank, not under it. They've been warm since, but now I think they're dehydrated and both are less interested in eating. Starting at the beginning again with fluids...:shakehead . See more detail in that other thread. On a lighter note, this is how I found them before their 8pm feed :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

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[SquirrelsinSingapore]

AWESOME
:crazy:crazy :crazy:crazy

[skylavaulter]

Update: Doing great! 83 & 79 grams, Zoe has both eyes open, Tess has 1.5 eyes open :rotfl . Eating 5-6 cc's at a time. We're on the right track! :jump